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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1997)
▼ EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective : , ^ i m NEWSROOM: S (541)346-5511 ■ DISPLAY ADVERTISING: g (541)346-3712 ■■ BUSINESS OFFICE: 5 (541)346-5512 ' CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: U (541)346-4343 Feminism is about humanity, not domination OPINION Nicole Knstai Image of feminism suffers from a bad reputation, in part because of societal misconceptions My first apartment was a com plete dump. Bass boomed through thin walls. Every time someone ran upstairs, the entire build ing quivered. But the most unnerving part of my liv ing environment was not the structure of the building itself. It was living above members of the Lane Community College baseball team. At first, I tried not to pre judge them as stereotypical “dumb jocks.” They wouldn’t fall into that category until at least four hours later. The first night, I slept for one hour. The baseball players played rap loudly all night long. I could audibly hear one or mem rerer to ms “bitch." The girlfriend as next morning, my room mate and I complained to the manager. not domination.) Possibly, the prospect of a number of organized women in power frightens them. Possibly, the reality of a number of organized men in power since the beginning ot time frightens us. If you assume that femi ^ nism equals male-bash ing, you lazily accept a stereotype about a mi ^^k nority’s cause with ^^k out really examin ing the issue. Do you also lazily as sume that if you ■ are African-Amer ican, you’re a ■ great dancer? That ? if you’re Asian, ■ you’re good at ■ math? That if you’re homosexu al, you convert straight people? And that if you’re a Jew, you’re stingy? Generalizing about these minorities results / rpmrwc m uemg viewea as igno rant — we hope. Yet men and women label a moody woman as “PMS-ing.” A sympathetic man who can remove himself from his personal i nt; luiiuwiiig evening, a lew drunken team members pounded on our apartment door, screaming: “Why’d you tell on us? Why won’t you party with us?” With racing hearts, we sat silently. Passive ly. My roommate opened the door to see what they wanted. They yelled from the floor below, “Can we see your ass?” Later that evening, we left to walk a friend home. The drunken boys ap proached and entered our personal space. “Hey, don’t tell anybody, but we heard you guys were lesbians,” they said. I was infuri ated — not because someone thought I was a lesbian, but because these boys believed lesbians were inferior. I angrily turned and with a fairly idiotic comeback yelled, “Well, you heard wrong.” Then their leader, king of the ignorant, yelled, “Oh, so you will give us head then.” His friends chuckled, then spit at us. Right then I should have called the po lice. My roommate restrained me, claiming it would ruin our relationship with our new neighbors. God forbid! But deep down, she feared being assaulted. 1 did, too. I never called the police. I still regret it. Those pigs not only considered homosexu CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald als inferior, but the entire female gender as well. Most of you probably read the above pas sage and were outraged by the actions of the baseball players. But how many of you who felt their actions were wrong label yourselves as feminists? A major discrepancy exists concerning the definition of feminism. The Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as the “advocacy of women’s rights and sexual equality.” The entry does not read, “the art of male-bashing.” All those who believe that feminism combats the existence of men need to educate themselves. Likewise, the entry does not read, “the state of being feminine.” Many men who label themselves pro-woman will not label themselves feminists in fear that the title implies that they are less masculine. Men often perceive feminism as a threat because they are unclear on the definition. (Femi nism’s main purpose is to achieve equality, biases and attempt to perceive the world through a female point of view can understand the reason why the fear and anger harbored by feminists exists: Im provements have arrived slowly, and women have a right to be concerned. The millennium approaches, and 75 per cent of working women earn less than $20,000 per year. Yet over half of the hu mans on this planet are women. Feminism, like any other equal rights cause, is about humanity. Ideally, everyone should re ceive equal treatment. I am aware that feminism has a bad repu tation, mainly because of media, societal institutions and male-bashers fighting in the name of feminism. One equal rights cause does not carry more importance than another. However, if you assume that equality has been reached, you need to ed ucate yourself. Nicole Kristal, a sophomore majoring in journalism, is a columnist for the Emerald. Her column appears on alternate Tues days. Her views do not necessarily repre sent those of the newspaper. E-mail: nkristal@gladstone.uoregon.edu LETTERS Back burden On May 20, Oregonians will be asked to vote on Measure 50, the leg islature’s alternative to the ill-con ceived Measure 47. While this rewrite may lessen some of the im pact of Measure 47 and clarify some of its confusing language, it does nothing to address the shift in Ore gon’s tax system. Over the last several years, the tax burden in Oregon has been steadily shifting from businesses — especial ly large corporations — to individual taxpayers. Measure 5 and 47, coupled with a low 6.6 percent corporate income tax, has resulted in Oregon having the lowest business tax burden in the West. This has shifted the tax burden onto the backs of working people, im posing more taxes on family budgets while cutting funding for public ser vices that are essential to our com munities. If you are tired of seeing public ser vices cut and are interested in restor ing tax fairness to Oregon, you can at tend The Tax Fairness Now! Conference on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Eugene Hilton. This conference, sponsored by the Lane County Labor Council, will mark the starting point for all those interested in creating a fair tax system in Ore gon. Lee Lasse Springfield Get involved Have you ever wanted to get down and get dirty? Well, Streamwalk is the safe and fun alternative to all your de sires. We partake in a number of fun activities ranging from tree-planting, conducting litter cleanups along wa ter ways, removal of non-native plant species from recreational parks, water testing, salmon restoration... the list goes on and on. It’s a lot of fun and the weather is just right, so get involved! We have weekly meetings at 6 p.m. in the EMU, Suite 1. For more information, call the OSPIRG office at 346-4377. Gil Koresh Environmental Studies Great difference Thanks to all of the Emerald read ers and University students who turned out to participate in the 13th Annual Hunger Cleanup on April 12! It was a huge success, thanks to everyone involved! I would like to also express my thanks to the coalitions, endorsers, donors and media who helped us reach out to the campus and commu nity. The time, effort and donations are all appreciated. This work has in deed made a great difference in someone’s life. We are still accepting financial contributions, which will be donated to local, national and international hunger relief causes. We are also looking for students and groups inter ested in being a part of the committee for next year’s cleanup to make it an even bigger success. In addition, the Hunger and Home less project will be performing com munity work throughout this term. Please stop by the OSPIRG office in Suite 1 of the EMU or call 346-4357 to get involved! Laynah Tan Business Administration WINNERS President Clinton | The President I struck a major vie-1 tory for bipartisan | politics working | out a 5-year bal- | anced budget. | CyndiLauper | The girl who just 1 wanted to have fun | is expecting a child I in 6 months and is 1 also touring with 1 Tina Turner. AT&T Users A federal plan to 1 help subsidize lo- 1 cal phone compa- I nies will allow I AT&T to pass some of its $1 bil- | lion in savings on l to customers. | Patrick Stewart I The Star Trek cap- | tain will be back in | action, starring in a new Star Trek l movie due out in the fall of 1998. LOSERS Donald Trump | The 50-year-old | billionaire an- 1 nouncedhisal- § most four-year | marriage to beauty queen Marla Maples is | coming to an end. Bilingual Programs California may | soon be scrap- | ping bilingual programs for im- 1 migrants in favor | of English-only programs to boost non-Eng lish speakers’job 1 prospects. Garry Kasparov f The Russian chess champion § was defeated by | an IBM super- | computer, which 1 evened their se- f ries at one game I to one, Marilyn Manson | The self-pro claimed Satan- | worshiping rock | star is involved in | yet another law | suit—this one 1 with the Mead- | owlands in New | Jersey for a can- 1 celed concert. 1
